Ford and GM CEOs Say They'll Work for $1

[Jon Katz]

This just in off the newswires: Ford CEO Alan Mulally and GM CEO Rick Wagoner have offered to cut their salaries to $1 a year if the government provides the Detroit Three automakers with a $25 billion loan.

Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli agreed last month to a $1 salary under the same terms.

Ford also says it will sell its five corporate jets, according to CNNMoney.com.

So, does this change anyone's mind regarding the automakers' commitment to rebuilding their industry, or is this simply more PR spin that's too little too late?

[Pilgrim]

So what? If laying themselves off for a dollar actually makes a difference, these guys are making way too much money.

[bradintx]

I think that the $1 salaries are a PR move and it plays well with the press and the execs make too much money crowd (i agree they do).

If I had any say - and I do not, I would place some demands on the loans.
1. Ohio and Michigan (the states with the most at stake) become right to work states by June 30, 2009.
2. Labor contracts renogotiated to closely match those at Toyota and Honda plants.
3. Collateral must be put on the table, if they go under the taxpayer should have something tangible to sell to get our money back.
4. Exec pay must be tied to results on profits and not stock prices.
5. GM must get rid of about 1/2 their name plates.
6. All 3 (and hopefully in concert with Toyota, Honda etc) need to put some good % of money towards future generation fuels. We do not need 3 or 4 competing ideas as we will end up with none that take hold, we do not need a VHS versus Beta war.

In return for #6 the big 3 must demand from congress that if electric cars are the future that there will be enough electricty for the cars. Nuclear, clean coal and more natural gas are required. Also there has to be assurance that the used batteries can be disposed. If we build millions of electirc cars and then electricity is too scarce or too expensive and if we can not get rid of the used batteries then no one will buy the cars and we are right back where we are today with plants making vehicles no one wants to buy.

Do the above and probably some other things that I can't think of and we have a loan with some backing with a reasonable chance of being successful.

[Abogle]

I agree pretty much with you Brad, except on a few key points

Disagree on the "right to work" issue

Japanese auto workers already make comparable wages to US autoworkers.

And unfortunately in the VHS Beta war the inferior technology won out, so we would have to be careful with that analogy


And you are on point about battery technology - current battery technology presents some serious production , disposal and environmental issues. And according to a recent NPR program, the easily mined and refined Lithium for hybrid and electric cars comes from 3 unstable/unfreindly regions - Siberia, communist chinese occupied Tibet, and brutal civil war torn Congo. Concentrated lithium exposure also is known to cause birth defects

[mikestempo]

I seem to recall that in leaner years the now deceased, Ken Iverson, founder of Nucor Steel, took a $1 salary and his lean upper management team in Charlotte, NC shared in the pain.

I would NEVER confuse CEO's at the now dubious Big 3 with any such vision other than for the publicity.

How about Union Leaders working for $1? ... let's see the unions go on strike in their attempts to bleed the stone! This industry had a thirty year warning to get their houses in order. They did not.

They might go the way of Bethlehem Steel, another organization so braindead and stupid that it also had many years to right the ship and did nothing but flounder, insult, and cuss out their still suriving and domestic nemesis, Nucor Steel!

[rbrooku]

Considering the results they have produced, isn't one dollar too much?

I hereby offer my services as CEO of any of the Big 3, or all of them at once, and I will PAY one dollar for the privilege of the job.